I then added:

However, support for local initiatives in favour of farmers using their own rapeseed/sunflower seed to power their tractors and machinery would start to reduce fossil fuel inputs in farming, and should be encouraged; and recycling of used oils and cooking fats should also be actively encouraged.

Question 5.1
Should the EU continue acting in favour of biofuels after 2010?

Certainly, as long as second-generation biofuels fulfil their promise.

Should EU action include the following measures (which could be pursued without
defining a quantified target):

c) continued scope for Member States to support biofuels through tax
reductions/exemptions?

Biofuels should be tax-exempt. Fossil fuels should be subjected to increased tax. Exemptions for aircraft fuel should end. Exemptions for agricultural use of fossil diesel too, it being understood that incentives to go over to biodiesel would be offered (above and beyond tax exemption).

Question 6.1
Do you have any comments on the following issues, listed in the biofuels directive for
inclusion in the Commission's progress report:

d) the sustainability of crops used for the production of biofuels, particularly land
use, degree of intensity of cultivation, crop rotation and use of pesticides?

Organic farming should be much more actively encouraged by the EU.
The use of feedstocks such as maize and sugar beet, currently cultivated by unsustainable methods in respect of soil fertility and erosion, water wastage, soil and water pollution, threats to biodiversity through excessive use of pesticides, should be discouraged.
The use of feedstock crops as a "back door" for the introduction of GM varieties should be resisted.